


Finding the Balance

by heffermonkey



Series: Possession [6]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dom/sub, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 18:57:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/690339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heffermonkey/pseuds/heffermonkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's been keeping secrets and Danny decides enough is enough.  Sometimes, the balance of power means tipping the scales just a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finding the Balance

**Author's Note:**

> jedidaughter1 made me think with a comment on how would Steve deal with Danny if say Danny had a monumental problem to deal with, within the D/s relationship. It made me think about how Danny, as the sub, would deal with the situation if it was Steve, his Dominant, who had a monumental fuck up to deal with. 3000 words later, here's my attempt at that situation. Maybe later I'll write a 'Danny and his major fuck up' fic.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Steve yelled fiercely. Danny could feel the anger emanating from him, the clawed at composure Steve barely had a reign on any more. "Get out before-."

"Before what?" Danny yelled back, lifting his chin and looking straight in the eye. He didn't back down, but he didn't completely square up to him, hoping Steve still registered his submissive stance, even if he was showing evident signs of disobedience.

Inside Danny was in turmoil, he'd never done this before, not been so disobedient and pushing of the precarious balance between Dom and subby. He could feel his fingers shake and balled his fingers up against his palms. It felt wrong to be doing this, to be fighting Steve like this. And there was a fear that his plan could come crashing down around him and he'd lose him altogether. But Steve had slowly been drifting and distancing himself for weeks and Danny, in his desperation to save Steve from himself and save their relationship in the process, had been forced into taking drastic measures.

Steve stepped closer to him and Danny drew up every last bit of his strength not to deflect his eyes and look away, to not obey his natural feelings to submit to this man.

His Dominant.

"You're skating on thin ice Daniel," Steve said, looking him in the eye. "I suggest you remove yourself from this room and go take a time out to think about your actions."

"I should tell you to do the same thing," Danny shot back, a hint of anger in his own voice.

Steve looked at him desperately, searching his face. Danny read him like a book, the questioning eyes wondering when he'd began losing control. How to handle such blatant disobedience emanating from his sub.

"You'll tell me nothing," Steve warned, edging closer so that their chests were almost touching. Almost. Danny felt the heavy pull of his limbs urging him to drop to his knees under such close proximity of such Dominance. His very nature screamed at him to submit.

"Actually it's you who tells me nothing," Danny replied, thankful his voice didn't shake as much as his limbs did. "You're standing there, wondering why everything is so fucking wrong right now. Wondering why I'm acting like this, why I'm fighting you like this. Well that's why Steve, you've been slowly locking yourself away for weeks, over something I don't understand because you won't open up to me. You tell me nothing and you act like everything is okay and I'm not standing for it any longer."

"Do you think you can fight me Danny," Steve said mockingly. It was such a demeaning voice that Danny winced from the implication. "You really think you're going to stand up to me and not deal with the consequences?"

"Oh there'll be consequences," Danny agreed with a small nod. "Just not the kind you think. You don't want to talk to me, then go ahead and lock yourself away. But you can watch me walk away as well."

Steve blinked at that, looked at him closely and Danny heard the hitch of breath as it caught in his throat. Danny was serious. He'd walk out the door, as difficult and painful as that would be.

"I'm serious Steve," Danny said, just to make sure Steve really believed him. "There's something hurting you, something I can't help fix if you don't talk to me. I'm losing you and I can't stand by and watch that happen without fighting to keep you. So I'm going to do as you ask, I'm going to go out of this room and sit somewhere and wait for you. But if you don't come to me, if you decide this isn't worth fighting for, then I'm leaving."

Steve didn't reply and Danny finally stepped back, creating some distance, his entire being trembling with emotion. He turned away and turned the handle of the door, opening it and pausing to look back.

"You've got an hour to make a decision or I'm gone," Danny said to him, before he escaped from the room.

He wasn't sure why he chose to wait in the playroom, maybe because it was where the many challenges of balancing out their relationship took place. He felt safe in there, it tapped into and fed into his submissive energy. It created a calm for him to settle into and he sat down in the old black leather armchair that gave a view of the whole room. He shook his hands in front of him, before clasping them together, fingers still shaking. He'd not challeneged a Dom so blatantly before. There'd been times he'd pushed back at Steve just to test the boundries of their relationship, but all with the understanding and knowledge it would bring them closer together.

But this was make or break. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands, sucking in some deep breaths and letting them out slowly. There were so many things he'd learned in this room, about his submission, about himself, about his Dominant, about Steve. Simple things, difficult things, lessons quickly learned or some, over time, with patience and effort on both sides.

He was surprised when he heard the turn of the handle, sitting up quickly and watching as Steve entered the room, not looking surprised to find him there. Steve looked subdued, defeated even and Danny wasn't sure how to deal with that look. Steve was always so self assured, so in control that to see him spiralling out was hard to witness.

Steve closed and leaned against the door, forehead nearly touching the dark wood. "I didn't think you'd be here. I thought you'd be gone."

He sounded so lost and so grateful he was wrong that Danny stood quickly and crossed over the room to him, putting a hand on the small of his back.

"I said an hour remember?" Danny pointed out gently. "Last time I checked that was sixty minutes, not ten."

"You did?" Steve questioned with a frown and Danny realised he wasn't quite with him. He looked dazed and lost.

"Babe, come and sit down," Danny said, rubbing his back softly before pulling him over to the old, worn, comfy sofa near the window. He sat Steve down before sitting beside him, legs curled under him, one hand holding Steve's, the other curled around his shoulders, head resting against his. "Tell me what's happening with you. Please?"

So Steve began talking. Slowly at first and not quite making any sense. But Danny didn't interrupt, started filling in the peices as they came to him, he was a detective after all, puzzles were his forte. It was all to with the mysterious Shelbourne, which Danny knew something of. But he soon realised the information he had was very little. Steve had been gathering intel privately, had had secret liasons with people to help him, a man named Joe White who Danny learned was a former training officer of Steve's had gotten involved. Only Steve thought now that Joe was withholding information. Steve had even lied to him about when he'd gone away for a week not long ago to do some apparent 'training' on an aircraft carrier. He'd really been trying to track intel on this Shelbourne, to no avail. As Danny thought about it, he realised that was around the time Steve had begun drifting away and he figured maybe it was because of that lie that things had gotten out of control.

When Steve stopped talking, Danny wasn't sure how to deal with the sudden revelations. He wasn't sure how to feel about the lying and the deception. But he did know it felt like a huge weight had been lifted, despite the shit left lying underneath that weight. Shit he could deal with, bit by bit. The shit could be cleaned up.

"I'm so sorry Danny," Steve said, turning to face him finally. "I felt, at first, like I needed to do this for myself. Then it all just got tougher and messier, everything got so tangled so quickly and it was frustrating only I hadn't told anyone. I hadn't told you and I was afraid of what it was going to do to us if you found out I'd been hiding things, I thought I could fix it all. I thought going away that week would fix everything, only it didn't and coming back, not telling you where I'd really been. It was like the hole I was digging just got bigger and bigger and I couldn't see a way out of it any more. I still can't, I just, I can't lose you, but I understand if this changes things. I couldn't have let you walk away without telling you, that would have felt worse. At least this way, whatever happens, I've finally told you the truth."

"I'm not going anywhere," Danny said firmly with a shake of his head. "Yeah, there's a lot to deal with and it's going to take time Steve. This - this is a really big fucking mess. I don't even know where we're supposed to begin. But I'm not going anywhere."

Danny wasn't sure how to cope when Steve started crying. He'd never witnessed him breakdown into tears, though Steve had seen many outbursts of tears from himself. But his eyes filled up so quickly and his face contorted before he let out a sob and Danny did the only thing that felt right, pulling him closer and letting Steve bury his face into his neck as he held him in his arms. It was the only thing he instinctively knew gave comfort, being held so close and tight that it created that feeling of safety. He felt the sudden urge to protect Steve, that this was a rare moment that he'd never, ever tell anyone about. Steve was a proud, jealous, tough, strict man and Dominant. That he was sobbing so hard in his arms disturbed Danny on some strange level, seeing and feeling Steve so broken. It was a side to him he'd never seen or had to deal with before. Amidst the tears and the sobbing he heard Steve apologising over and over again and realised Steve wasn't upset because of the weight of secrets he'd been carrying, but because he'd kept them secret from him and came so close to destroying their entire relationship. Had Steve honestly thought Danny would just walk away without attempting to fix things?

Danny took a leaf out of Steve's book, after all, he'd been a subby since he'd began opening himself up to that side of him when he was sixteen years old. Not only did you learn about yourself and your submissive traits and those natural instincts to submit. But you learned how Dominant's worked on a base level also. The assertiveness and natural feeling to take control. It wasn't natural to him to be in control, but he could be assertive, his job demanded it. For a moment he shrouded himself in Danny Williams, the detective and gave Steve a squeeze.

"There now, come on," he said calmly, giving Steve a push. "Pull yourself together baby. Don't waste time on tears."

Steve pulled back, still looking downcast and morbid, but he wiped a hand over his face, looking utterly exhausted.

"You should lie down," Danny said, recognizing the look. He'd looked like that plenty of times himself when he'd been emotionally wiped out.

"We need to talk," Steve said with a shake of his head.

"We will," Danny assured him. "But lie down, rest your mind. You're wiped out and need to charge your batteries. Take it from someone who knows exactly how you feel. Come on downstairs, you can crash on the couch while I make you some sweet tea."

As he spoke he stood, holding out a hand to Steve who took it and let himself be pulled to his feet, solemnly following Danny as he led him downstairs and pushed at him to lie down on the couch. Danny left him to make the tea, extra sweet knowing the sugar rush would revive Steve some, even though he hated the stuff. Danny was drawing on all his knowledge and experience of dealing with an emotional crash out and set the tray on the coffee table, urging Steve to sit up. Steve took the cup offered to him, wincing but swallowing down some mouthfuls and already looking better. His eyes weren't so puffy and his cheeks were getting colour back in them where he'd looked drained before.

"I'm sorry," Steve said to him and Danny shook his head with a small smile.

"Stop apologising, once was enough," Danny replied. "Twice assured me, three times I really believed you. I think the subsequent times have really sunk it into my brain."

"I meant about, you know, being like this," Steve said with a sheepish smile, motioning to himself and the coffee.

"Oh you mean the emotional melt down?" Danny gave a small laugh. "Preaching to the choir babe. Least I know from good sources how to deal with it."

"This has never happened to me before," Steve said with a frown.

"Yeah you kind of caught me off guard," Danny nodded in agreement, taking a sip of his own tea. "Not a side of my Dom I'm used to seeing. Please don't make a habit of it."

"Please," Steve said disdainfully. "I haven't been acting like your Dominant or your partner for weeks, keeping all these secrets. All I've been is a huge let down."

"Don't," Danny said gently, shaking his head and putting a hand on Steve's arm. "Don't say that. Don't think that. You did something stupid, you fucked up, but don't put yourself down like that. You aren't perfect Steve, I don't expect or want you to be. But you are my partner, you are my Dominant and this fuck up doesn't change that or who you are. This breakdown is just you dealing head on with the shit you've been carrying with you for months now. That doesn't make you a let down. Just makes you monumentally stupid and okay, a bit of a fucktard. But we're dealing with that now, so suck it up and stop feeling sorry for yourself."

Steve blinked in the face of such a speech, before he quietly took another sip of his tea and tried not to wince at the sweetness. He smacked his lips together and gave a small smile, making Danny smile in return at seeing it. Seeing Steve begin to compose himself in general made Danny feel more eased. It was difficult, this small shift in balance as he tried to keep everything from crashing around them.

"This is an interesting side of you I'm seeing," Steve said, a smirk dancing on the edge of his lips, eyes dancing and Danny figured the sugar rush was taking effect.

He grinned and shook his head. "Don't get used to it. I may be showing an outward look of keeping control and composed while you find your feet again, but I'm completely out of my element here babe."

"You sure you don't have some Dominant tendencies you've been keeping hidden?" Steve teased, giving his hand a squeeze. Danny grimaced and shuddered with a shake of his head. He knew of subbys who had Dominant tendencies, some very strongly, and equally there were Dominants with submissive tendencies and qualities in their natures. But he'd not thought of or considered Domination as part of his dynamic since he'd accepted he was a submissive in his teens.

"No, I promise you that," Danny replied with a laugh. "I've just learned how to deal with certain situations over the years."

"Then thank you for stepping out of your comfort zone and forcing me to face, well, the fuck up I've created," Steve said, turning serious again in his gratefulness. "I mean it Danny, I'm sorry things went this far and you were forced to make me talk like this. It shouldn't have gotten to this point and that's my fault."

"You know how you're always telling me that once a punishment is over, that slate has been wiped clean so to speak," Danny said, leaning over to him.

"Yeah," Steve nodded in reply.

"Well then remember how you felt when you thought I'd left," Danny reminded him. "That is your punishment. But it's over now, clean slate. We've got stuff to talk about and deal with, but it's over now. So stop punishing yourself, stop apologising and start thinking about how we're going to move on okay?"

"Okay," Steve nodded again, a smile on his lips again as he put an arm around Danny's waist. He paused before he kissed him, making Danny frown a little, his brown bunching just at the bridge of his nose. "Thank you Danny, for my punishment."

The frown eased as Danny smiled in understanding, giving in to him as Steve closed the gap, pulling him closer to kiss him. Danny sagged against his body, tension easing out from his shoulders as they rested together. They had a lot to talk about, a lot to say still, but Danny felt it was safe to let go of the reigns again, to let Steve regain that power in their relationship.


End file.
